THE OFFICIAL WEB SITE OF THE MADISON TIMES WEEKLY NEWSPAPER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Latino Health Fair raises awareness of vital health issues

By Laura Salinger

On Aug 28, a group of people lined up outside the Exhibition Hall at the Alliant Energy Center on a warm, muggy morning. They weren’t waiting in line for a rock concert or performance, but rather, awaiting the start of the Latino Health Fair.

In some cases, Latino community members showed up an hour early to wait for the start of the event — which featured free HIV testing and counseling, blood pressure screening, cholesterol screening, glucose checks, height and body mass index (BMI) measurements, and “ask-the-doctor” stations. Nearly 600 people attended the health fair last year and organizers expected this year’s attendance to exceed that number.

The seven-year-old event was organized by the Latino Health Council (LHC), a group of community members, health professionals, and organizations who promote and support a healthy Latino community through education, advocacy, and consulting. LHC aims to give Latinos the tools they need to access health care and make healthy life choices.

“Awareness is a big issue in the Latino community,” LHC Vice Chair Shiva Bidar-Sielaff said. “We are trying to get people to put health at the top of their priorities.”

One of the biggest obstacles in accessing health care in the Latino community is the language barrier. Although Madison health facilities have a broad range of interpreter services, the Latino community is not always aware that these services are available.

“While we are fortunate in our community because all the health care facilities provide language access, the problem is educating people that there are actually interpreters available,” Bidar-Sielaff said.

The key to ensuring effective health care is to introduce as many Latino community members as possible to the services that are available to them.

“We have a really good standard in Madison in providing linguistic access to Spanish speaking communities,” said Brenda Gonzalez, an LHC member and a manager of interpreter services at Dean Health System. “We really hope the Latino community is made aware of these services.”

That is where events like the health fair come into play

This year’s health fair theme was breast cancer, and the four-hour fair featured an hour of testimony from breast cancer survivors. Government officials, including Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager representative Juan José Lopez, were also on hand to give their remarks about Latino health issues. Free, healthy food and live entertainment dotted the schedule throughout the day and a number of presenters were on hand to speak with attendants about a variety of health issues.

The UW-Madison Medical School set up computers in the Exhibition Hall, where attendees could learn how to look up health-related information on the Internet.

Meriter employees distributed information on a number of health issues and services and were available throughout the day to answer questions.

“There is a lot of health information out there that people wouldn’t know about,” Meriter employee Maria Martinez said. “The idea being that if you are made aware of these issues then you can avoid them.”

Other exhibitors included UW Health, AIDS Network, Unity Health Insurance, Group Health, Elder Care, Planned Parenthood, Diabetes Prevention and Control, Dane County Public Health, and the Madison Department of Public Health.

Latinos are the second-largest and fastest-growing ethnic population in the state of Wisconsin. According to the Wisconsin study “The Health of Racial and Ethnic Populations in Wisconsin 1996-2000,” the leading causes of death in Wisconsin’s Latino population from 1996-2000 were cancer, heart disease, and unintentional injury. The leading causes of death for Latinos ages 65 and older were heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

According to event organizers, high blood pressure, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes are common health concerns in the Latino community. Many of these health issues, in turn, contribute to the leading causes of death in this population.

Another health concern for the Latino community is HIV infection, which affects the Latino population at an around five times greater rate than the White population in Wisconsin. Between 1996-2000, Latinos made up only 3.6 percent of Wisconsin’s population, but represented over 9 percent of newly reported HIV infections.

These and other health concerns were addressed with a sizable group of Latinos at the health fair and organizers hope that education and screenings will play a part in reducing the health risks that affect Wisconsin’s Latino population. In their minds, knowing is half the battle.